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Bucket Head Bee Vac?

Planning on making a bee vac with one of those Bucket head vacuums from Home Depot (vac head that sits on top a 5 gallon bucket) Has anyone here ever done this? I was thinking on not modifying it in any way other than to put an adjustable damper on it to control the suction. I have seen videos on using a second bucket as the bee collection part and relocating the hose to a different part of the bucket. Is any of this necessary? As long as I am not sucking them up with too much force and damaging/killing them will I be ok? Any thought would be much appreciated!

Re: Bucket Head Bee Vac?

I made a bucket bee vac with a bucket head from Lowes. Instead of a damper I wired in a light dimmer switch to adjust the power to the motor to provide the suction I need. Also I took a lid and cut a big hole in the lid and covered it with wire. Now when I'm done sucking up bees I just remove the bucket head and put the screen lid on to transport the bees. It's simple and works great. Hope this helps.

Re: Bucket Head Bee Vac?

I would think if you are running you VAC on reduce voltage with dimmer switch unless the motor is RFD It will burn up your motor----
I would install windows with screens and some way to adjust the VAC -on the buckets -like a piece of adjustable plastic to cover screen hole -close or open them

Re: Bucket Head Bee Vac?

You may want to conduct an experiment on your completed BEE-VAC. Buy a can of peas. Drain the water and pour them out on a paper towel. Once there is no residual water then vacumn the peas and see how they fair.

Now while we have a skeleton bees have an exoskeleton. We have a diaphram bees do not.

I think you will find you need to apply some engineering theory. Namely a vacumn reservoir combined with a vacumn manifold incorporating a vacumn pressure relief valve.

Re: Bucket Head Bee Vac?

I did a cut out a while back and when I went to use my home made bee vac, it would not work. So I use the shop vac. I figured I had to clean up and get the job done.
When I got home I took the vac out to the yard and opened an empty Nuc. I filled the box with live and seemingly unharmed bees. I gave them a week and checked and found a healthy hive, including eggs. BTW the filter on the vac was dirty, this may account for poorer suction.

Re: Bucket Head Bee Vac?

I use the same bucket head vac from home depot. It works flawlessly, I have even sucked up a couple queens and they were released unharmed. I have 2 buckets that I have modified by drilling 4 1" holes in the sides. I covered all 4 holes withe screen on the inside. On the outside I cover 2 and a half holes with duct tape while sucking up bees. This is the perfect amount of suction. Once we are done with the cut-out I remove all of the duct tape so bees have ventilation. The last cut=out was so large that half way thru we switched buckets. Once we are at the new hive location, I lay a section of plywood butted up tight to the front of the hive, bang the bucket once on the ground. pop the lid and dump the bees. I love watching all those bees head for the hive! We seldom see more than 5 to 10 dead bees on the plywood after they are all hived. Twice we have seen the queen, I just scoop her up with a turkey feather and set her in the entrance.....The rest follow her in!